#actually maybe i should look up the source the guy cited specifically bc i tried googling rn n im not getting anything so. take that w a

[cryptid-believer]

A monster that licks Popes? It's astounding that you have 475 pages of data on something with such awfully specific criteria!

BUCKLE UP, DUSTY,THINGS ARE GONNA GET POPE LICKY.

FIRST THING the PopeLick Monster is actually named after POPE LICK CREEK inMetro Louisville, Kentucky, and the POPE LICK TRESTLE, the 90ft tallrailroad bridge the creature is purported to live under. This is thebridge!! First is 1904, second is TODAY (well, okay, 2011.)

The Pope family wereREALLY BIG in 19th century Kentucky, and the best info we havesuggests that the creek was named after JOHN POPE, the thirdterritorial governor of Arkansas! He had one arm and three wives (notat the same time.) But this ISN’T ABOUT HIM. Also the trestlepasses over a little river, or ‘lick,’ so that’s the best leadwe have on the origins of the name!

People say the PopeLick Monster has the upper body of a REALLY PALE guy with wide-seteyes and goat horns, and the legs of a goat. Or a sheep! They sayit’s an escaped circus freak or a farmer who sacrificed his goatsto SATAN, or maybe a human-goat hybrid (which is biologicallyimpossible for a whole bunch of reasons including the fact thathumans have 46 chromosomes and goats have 60 but okay.) It’ssupposed to lure people out onto the trestle and then force them toleap to their deaths, or drop right off the bridge and land on carspassing underneath on Pope Lick Road. Other versions claim it has agiant rusty axe, or that it holds people down on the traintracksuntil they get run over! They say it can imitate a train whistle, itwails and screams, and it might have HYPNOTIC POWERS.

THIS IS NOT A REAL PHOTOGRAPH. WE DON’T HAVE ANY OF THOSE YET.

This is where thingsget kinda frustrating because it’s an urban legend so there’s awhole lot of ‘People say…’ and ‘It is said that…’ and I’mlike, WHO SAID THAT. WHEN. WHAT’S THEIR EMAIL BC I HAVE QUESTIONS.

Um, okay, what we doknow. We have a lot of anecdotal evidence dating back to the 1940sabout the Pope Lick Goatman or Monster or Sheepman. Several sourcessay an entire Boy Scout troupe in the 50s/60s camped out near thetrestle and were attacked in the middle of the night by a hairy creature that shrieked and threw rocks at them and may or may not have just been a really antisocial naked hobo guy, but I can’t findany information other than a bunch of people saying it happened, so,again, legend. We have claims of cattle mutilations and sightings ofthe monster leaping across the road in front of cars, and WeirdKentucky cites a guy called Doug Oller who says his grandfather saw a‘screaming devil jumping a fence, grabbing two full-grown pigs andjumping off with them.’

Unfortunately noneof the 17 Doug or Douglas Ollers in the Metro-Louiseville phonebooksare taking my calls anymore, so I can’t substantiate that claimyet.

Here’s wherethings get SERIOUS. The trestle is 772ft long, and at least 4 peoplehave died trying to cross it. In 1987 Jack Bahm, 17, and DavidBryant, 19, tried to cross the bridge. Bahm was killed on impact withthe train and Bryant jumped, dying later of his injuries. In 2000Nicholas Jewell, 19, died in a fall from the trestle trying to avoidthe train. In 2016 Roquel Bain, 26, climbed out onto the bridgespecifically LOOKING for the Pope Lick monster and got hit by thetrain AND fell off the bridge. People say the monster lures monsterhunters and thrill-seeking teenagers out onto the bridge with itsTELEPATHIC powers, but it seems like most of the time the only thingthat tempts people into climbing onto the bridge is the LEGENDITSELF. Kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy, I guess. The factis, Pope Lick Monster or no Pope Lick Monster, the trestle is toolong to escape if you’re surprised by a train.

So… YEAH. Actualdemon haunting backwoods Kentucky? Scary hobo guy throwing rocks atBoy Scouts? Lethal yet non-paranormal psychological trap?? IMPROBABLYGROSS GENETIC MUTATION? We JUST DON’T KNOW. Since the 1980s thebase of the trestle is protected by an 8-foot fence and a ton of‘DANGER’ and ‘KEEP OUT’ signs but, come on, when has thatever stopped dedicated monster hunters? Or teenagers. The answer isNEVER, I should know because I’M BOTH.

There was anindependent movie, ‘The Legend Of The Pope Lick Monster’ and astage play/film, ‘The Trestle At Pope Lick Creek.’ The monster evenhas its own Facebook page. And THIS SHIRT, which I kind of NEED.

If you want the full 190minute video presentation with slides that I originally made for myYoutube channel, PM me. I just need to make sure you’re not goingto share it with anyone who’s going to speed up my voice so I soundlike a crazy chipmunk and put stupid circus music over it, because that’sa precaution I need to take, apparently.

#pope lick monster #cryptid #urban legend #dib membrane #dusty #dustlines